In a mixed hardwood and softwood forest it's sometimes difficult to appreciate the full scope of autumn's colour dress. When the deciduous trees dominate not so much, but when it's the mature presence of greater numbers of pines, hemlock, fir and spruce their greens seem to cloak the emerging colours of the maples, poplars, oaks, beech and birch. At those times, to enable a fuller appreciation of the colour that's gradually appearing, a sweeping glance upward toward the canopy helps.

Of course there's also the increasing presence of fallen leaves on the forest floor, creating a kaleidoscope of brilliant colour, or in instances where a copse of poplars dominate, a golden trail of accumulating fallen foliage massing on forest trails, glowing in the sun. Not to be outdone, pines also shed copiously at this time of year, more so than their usual and an accumulation of bright orange pine needles soon piles up under their shedding branches.

When I look at photographs taken of the forest in previous years, I'm always surprised at the truly impressive colour, since it always seems to me with a new autumn that there's a real deficiency of colour. This is a reflection of my impatience with the slow pace of the emerging colour scheme that autumn brings, more than a reflection of reality, I realize of course.

Now, when we enter the ravine to descend to the valley floor enclosed by the forest, we're greeted by a blush of colour; perspective, though is everything. The more distant you are from the brightening landscape the greater the colour impact. The small creatures of the forest are in preparation mode. We're seeing more of the squirrels in action now, responding to their primal urge for survival, gathering what they can to sustain them over the winter months.

Jackie is particularly enamoured of chasing after them through the forest interior. He's accustomed to being called back when he ventures out of our sightlines, so he doesn't tend to go too far away. In any event, the wily little squirrels know full well that no dog is able to follow them up the trunk of a tree, and since this is their habitat, and the trees are thick and close, they take their time, teasing the impudent chasing dogs to come as close as they can before making that sudden leap removing them entirely from the chase.

It's the chase, the tantalizing invitation that teasing arouses, raising the urge to follow, that appears to motivate both participants in this ageless ritual of 'catch me if you can'. Many people whose dogs find the invitation irresistible, believe that should the two come to a face off directly when for some reason both the squirrel and the dog suddenly stop, surprisingly, each would be alarmed over the stop to the game, and turn swiftly to head off in opposite directions. It's just what we've witnessed ourselves in the past. And we'd like to believe that no dog would harm a smaller creature like a squirrel.

But if some thought is given to the possibility of such a confrontation one can always conjure up the defences that a squirrel has at its disposal; sharp nails accustomed to tearing tough fibres apart, and sharp, gripping-biting teeth that enable it to exert sufficient force to macerate what to our considered opinion would be inedible objects. Dogs fall into the same category, but unless they're feral, their instincts and their ferocity is usually softened by the companion lives they lead.

Nature is always hard at work on her endless project of creation, existence and the cycle of renewal, and when we look at the forest floor there are all kinds of fallen trees, taken out of living contention by disease, weather happenstance or old age, gradually being consumed by bacteria, by fungi, to eventually disintegrate and become part of the decaying mass on the forest floor, a nursery for new vegetation to emerge and take the place of the old.

I've always found fall to be a time of contemplation, of a more fuller awareness of our natural surroundings and how indebted we are to our landscape in offering us the opportunity to take advantage of experiences within nature that add immeasurably to our quality of life.